Hey everybody!
I have an amazing
special guest
Dr. Alexa Altman is here
to talk
with us about
what is
trauma and resiliency.
Since this is the first of many
videos that Alexa and I are going
to do together
tell my audience
a little bit about what
you do and what
your specializations are.
I'm a clinical psychologist
with a specialization
in trauma therapies
specifically, EMDR
and somatic experiencing
and both of those therapies
help a person move out of
the overwhelm that happens after a
traumatic experience
back into connection with
their bodies,
connection with other people,
and a greater connection
to their life.
Very cool.
Yeah, and if any of you
what EMDR is
we'll talk about it
periodically throughout our videos,
but I'll put a link
in the description
of my old video
about it where I
talk to you, specifically,
about bilateral stimulation
and all the terms
and what that means.
But for today,
we're going to start out with the basics.
Start at the beginning.
So, tell us
what trauma is.
How would we define
being in a trauma?
Yeah,
'cause people throw
out that word:
trauma this, trauma that.
What really is trauma,
and how do I know
if I've been traumatized?
So, a trauma is defined,
not in the event,
but a person's response,
the overwhelm that happens
after an event.
And it could be one big event,
we call that the "Big T".
Kati: Okay
Or, it can be a
series of
of small events.
We call those "Little T.'s"
that overwhelm a person's capacity
to cope.
Kati: Interesting.
So, what might be
traumatizing for one person
might not necessarily
be traumatizing to another.
Kati: And I've heard that
from a lot of my viewers.
They'll say, well,
I had a sister
and we grew up the same
and all this happened
to both of us.
How come I'm
the only one struggling?
Dr. Altman: That's right, that's right,
and we're going to talk
a little bit later about:
why and how our system...
What is that
overwhelm really about?
Kati: Yeah
Dr. Altman: 'Cause sometimes people
think something's wrong with them
that they were overwhelmed.
Kati: Yeah, exactly and
then there's a lot of blame
and guilt
and embarrassment
and all sorts of stuff that can go...
Dr Altman: "What's wrong with me?"
Kati: So, what we think we're talking
about is when we're
not in the trauma space.
We're not over-charged
or had any response to a trauma.
Right?
We're in a resilient zone
Dr. Altman: Yeah.
Kati: We're doing good and-
I'm doing the middle
'cause there's like a
graph kinda of, like,
we're in the good, like, middle
Dr. Altman: We're gonna draw it, yeah.
Kati: Yeah
Dr. Altman: Right, so when you're in that
resilience zone
your system might feel the charge
associated with having to meet
the challenge of your day. Right?
Kati: The charge would be like a
being stimulated, stressed.
Dr. Altman: Stimulated charge, right.
There's a certain level of stress,
like, it's stressful to get to work on time. Right?
Kati: Yeah!
Dr Altman: There's a certain amount of stress
that activates our system
to meet the challenges of the day,
And then...
Which is part of that charge.
But then our system balances it out
with some relaxation/ restoration.
That might look like
eating lunch with your friend.
Right?
Kati: Bringing you back down out of the stress.
Dr. Altman: So, we see this, like, real...
I mean, ideally, right?
We see this nice
wave of charge and discharge
that would be called our resilience zone.
Kati: Okay, nice.
Dr. Altman: Yeah, so that's where we're doing good.
Maybe life's not simple,
but we're able to kind of manage
what's coming at us
and come back down.
Kati: Got you, and like, almost like re-center ourselves.
Dr. Altman: That's right, that's right!
It's like, right, that's the "A Zone".
That's the zone you want to live in.
Kati: Okay
Dr. Altman: So, then we think about
an event or series of events that
bumps us out, well
what does that look like?
We get bumped out of
this nice, even resilience zone.
So, an event comes and bumps us out
and then we have this huge charge.
Let's say, car accident
Okay? A car accident
comes and our nervous system
involuntarily, it's instinctual,
responds with a huge amount of charge
to brace or prepare ourselves for some kind of action,
and our nervous system doesn't quite
get back into that range of resilience
the same way it would in just driving a normal day to work.
Kati: Is that, like, for the...
is that why, 'cause I've been in a...
everybody's been in a car accident
Dr. Altman: Sure.
Kati: even like a little fender bender.
Is that why when you get back in the car after,
even thought it wasn't that bad maybe, even,
but I still am, like, shooken up.
Is it that shakiness?
Dr. Alman: I'm so glad you asked, so that shakiness
is part of what we call that
sympathetic, which is that fight-or-flight,
nervous system arousal.
It's healthy, life-preserving,
but, here's the thing,
it's supposed to be short-term
and time limited. Alright?
Kati: Oh.
Dr. Altman: So, that shaking
that Kati was describing is one way
our nervous system shakes out that energy.
Kati: Oh, interesting.
Dr. Altman: The discharge.
Kati: It's almost like, 'cause I've read about, um,
I think, it was the EMDR video I did,
or I don't know.
You guys let me know.
The [unintelligible] was the trauma video,
but I talked about how animals, like,
[Kati makes a sound imitating vibration]
Dr. Altman: Yeah.
Kati: They, you know, they shake, and it's like they're...
one of the therapists that started a certain type
of treatment, I think it was somatic treatment.
Dr. Alman: Peter Levine.
Kati: Yes! Hes talked about
-that's exactly what it was-
he talked about how that was like their way of
coming back down, and we have our own versions.
Dr Altman: We have our own versions coming back down to that resilience zone.
Right?
That the challenge becomes
when we get stuck
in that sympathetic
you know, fight-or-flight state
and we don't come back down.
And some of that
there's lots of reasons why
and we can, maybe, get into some of that,
like why our nervous system...
maybe it's we didn't shake it out,
maybe we never got to a safe place,
so that's the other thing:
is we come back down when we find safety again.
Kati: Oh, so if we don't have a safe place
or if there are a bunch of "Little T.'s" -let's say, right- that happen
we can never feel okay enough to go
[Kati makes vibrating sound with her mouth]
Dr. Altman: That's right!
Kati: and be okay.
Dr. Altman: Right, and often times that
that safety is in a place or a person.
Kati: Interesting.
Dr. Altman: So, what if Kati,
you've had this big event
but maybe you've never had a safe person.
Kati: Yeah, well then, what do you do with that?
Dr. Altman: What do you do?
So, that's kind of what we see too
is sometimes these experiences get stacked on each other.
Kati: Okay., and so it's almost as if-
'cause I've heard from a lot of my viewers, especially,
and even some of my clients
that they don't even know what it would be like
to not feel on edge.
Dr. Altman: That's right.
Kati: or hyper-vigilant or a lot of things that come along with trauma.
Dr. Altman:That's right, that's right!
So we've been describing a lot of that
fight-or-flight state when you're super charged up,
but what we haven't defined yet is:
there is another state that's also protective, instinctual,
part of our defensive strategies,
which is called that freeze state.
Sometimes, we're not in fight-or-flight
we're in what's more of an immobilizing, protective response freeze,
which is dissociation.
Kati: Okay and that's where that comes out of.
Is that, if we were to write it...
Do we want to draw the thing now?
Dr. Altman: Yeah, let's draw it.
Kati: Okay we're going to draw it, okay.
So we switched sides [Kati snaps her fingers and makes the sound of a laser gun] Pew!
We did movie magic.
And now Alexa is going to draw
what we were talking about
and the resilient zone as well as fight, flight, and freeze?
Dr. Altman: Yep.
Kati: Right, so, I guess let us know what we're doing here
Dr. Altman: Yeah, so we were talking about
this range of resilience right?
Where we might get super charged
to get activated and mobilized to meet
the challenges of life.
Kati: That's like I'm in traffic, going to work.
Dr Altman: I'm in traffic
Kati: and then I'm having lunch and dinner
Dr. Altman: with my friend, right?
And we wouldn't say this is like a beach in Hawaii
like I'm in my happy place here,
but we're still able to cope
with the challenges that life brings us, right?
So, then we have
we're going to do our 🎵do ta dah do!🎵 traumatic experience
or a bunch of little things that come in, right?
Kati: "Big T" and "Little T", right?
Dr. Altman: "Big T", "Little T", actually that's a good idea.
Okay, little t.
Kati: Okay
Dr. Altman: Okay, and what what it does-
actually I'm going to do it in red-
Kati: Okay
Dr. Altman: is it bumps us out of this range, right?
Right,
and then we see this,
and this we call the "high zone"
Is that writing and [unintelligible]?
Kati: Mm-hm you're fine.
Dr. Altman: Can you read it?
Man off-camera: Yep.
Kati: Can you guys see it?
Dr. Altman: It looks like tight zone, "high zone".
Kati: [giggles]
Dr. Altman: And then we have this "low zone".
Kati: So is this freeze?
Dr. Altman: This is freeze.
Kati: Oh! [Katie whispers to camera- unintelligible]
Dr. Altman: So this is all that fight-or-flight.
Kati: Uh-huh
Dr. Altman: fight, flight
And this is freeze!
So, we call this freeze
this is also where you see dissociation,
Kati: Oh, okay.
Dr. Altman: foggy, numb, cut-off.
You can't feel your body. You feel like you're in a tunnel.
Kati: Okay, so this is like all the senses pumping at once
and this is when I just checked out.
Dr. Altman: Yeah, I like to think about it like circuit breaker on the house,
you know, when all the lights go off- circuit breaker's off-
that's that freeze response.
Kati: That's down here, yeah.
Dr. Altman: It's more of that life threat response.
Fight-or-flight, we're still mobilizing trying to meet the challenge.
Freeze is really that life-preserving,
feigning death, you know, playing possum, freeze response.
We typically see the freeze response in kids,
because they can't fight or flee.
Kati: Yeah
Dr. Altman: Right? And vulnerable people
in vulnerable situations where fighting or fleeing
maybe isn't the nervous system's wisest choice,
and I say "choice", but it's really involuntary. Right?
Kati: Yeah, I've heard from a lot of you
who have chronic illness
or are immobilized that this
dissociation is really difficult
and it's something that you struggle with
because fight-or-flight isn't an option.
Dr. Altman: Isn't an option.
Kati: How interesting.
Dr. Altman: Yeah, right, so a lot
of the strategies and skills
that, I think we're going to be talking about
are learning to bring your nervous system
out of the "high zone"
back into the range of resilience
and from the "low zone" back into the range of resilience.
And what we see, and how I really define resilience
is this capacity to move from overwhelmed
back into this range of resilience.
The other word we use a lot in trauma therapies
is this is called regulation, balance.
Kati: Oh yeah, okay, I've heard that!
Dr. Altman: Right?
So, resilience is moving your nervous system
back into regulation, which essentially is balance.
Kati: And that would be kind of like I'm sure some people
do this without even realizing they're doing it,
bringing themself back.
Dr. Altman: That's right.
Kati: Right? Like, "Oh, I'm feeling really maxed out,
I'm going to go for a walk,
or I'm going to, like, listen to a podcast,
or I'm gonna call my mom or...".
Like, it's all the reaching out
and the things that we do to...
Dr. Altman: Exactly. Come back into our range,
but, I think, some people really have lived a lot
of their life up here
Kati: mmhm
Dr. Altman: or a lot of their life down there,
so even the experience of balance, or back in the range,
is a new experience.
Kati: Might be uncomfortable even?
Dr. Altman: It might be uncomfortable,
'cause you know what I hear a lot in the "high zone"
being wire and vigilant all the time,
the idea of being in balance and not being vigilant...
Who's going to look out for danger, right?
Kati: Yeah
Dr. Altman: If you're looking, if you're used to looking
for danger all the time,
it's going to be really scary
to turn that radar off.
Kati: Yeah, because it was life-preserving.
Dr. Altman: It was life-preserving, so it was protective!
Kati: Oh wow, how interesting.
Dr. Altman: Right? So, we do, in trauma therapy
we talk about- this word we use is "titration".
Do you remember in chemistry
when you would titrate solutions and
you'd do a little bit at a time?
Kati: I have to think of medication,
but maybe it's 'cause of what we do.
I'm like, if your doctor's titrate it up or titrating it down.
Dr. Altman: So, we talk about this idea
of titrating experience
for moving something that's novel,
let's say, being safe or having that vigilance down
we do a little bit at a time
to get your system used to...
Kati: So, bringing it from here
step by step
Dr. Altman: Step by step. Oh! Could we do a step by step?
Kati: Yeah, we definitely can.
Dr. Altman: Oh, I've never done that
Let's see, like a step-by-step
Kati: Mmhm
Dr. Altman: a little bit at a time,
so you get used to what it feels like
to be in balance.
Kati: To let it go a little.
Dr. Altman: To let it go a little bit.
Kati: How interesting,
so, then, I guess to finish this video
and like I said we're going to do bunches of videos together.
Because Alexa has a lot of wonderful
information to share.
But I want to let everybody kind of understand,
so that this is what we're working on,
and this is kind of like, in a nutshell,
what trauma therapy is.
Dr. Altman: Yes!
Kati: What is the goal of trauma therapy?
Dr. Altman: That was such a perfect question,
because, essentially, every time we bring our
nervous system back into resilience
we expand our capacity,
so what this will look like...
Kati: Oh, does it get broader and broader and broader?
Dr. Altman: Yes! Can I make, can I just get it bigger?
Kati: Mmhm, of course!
Dr. Altman: So, then, your capacity
okay, so now we're talking 'bout life
Kati: Oh
Dr. Altman: We're able to meet bigger and bigger
challenges of life
without getting thrown.
Does that make sense?
Kati: Yeah! So it's almost as if
we're working out this muscle
and the muscle keeps getting bigger and bigger
and stronger and stronger.
Dr Altman: Stronger and stronger.
And, in addition, to not feeling overwhelmed as often
we're also able to take on more
and less of our energy is devoted to defense.
See, one of the things that happens
when you're bumped out all the time
is all of your life energy is taken to protect yourself.
Kati: Yeah and to that vigilance
'cause whoever, I'm sure, anybody who's ever been in an
accident or had anything potentially traumatic happen
it's exhausting.
Dr. Altman: It's exhausting.
Kati: And that on the edge,
it, like, takes everything you've got.
Dr. Altman: To think about other life things and goals and purpose,
whether it's to be creative or seek partnership
or connect in a different way
all of those resources are being taken up.
Kati: Yeah, interesting. That's so cool.
Thank you so much for sharing!
And, like I said,
we're going to do a bunch of videos, but this
is just to give you a better idea
of the definition of trauma,
resiliency, and what is trauma therapy.
What's the goal?
Thank you so much, Alexa,
for sharing all of your wonderful insights
and information!
And, like I said we're going to be in a ton
of videos together.
So, click over here to subscribe!
And turn on your notifications 'cause we're doing
a whole series, and you don't want to miss 'em.
Thank you so much, and we'll see you next time.
Bye!